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Jillana
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Edward Villella
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Francia Russell
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Kent Stowell
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Arthur Mitchell
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Carol Sumner
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Merrill Ashley
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Barbara Bocher
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Suki Schorer
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Jacques d’Amboise
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Florence Fitzgerald
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Heather Watts
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Terri Lee Port
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Kay Mazzo
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Bart Cook
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Violette Verdy
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Gloria Govrin
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Stephanie Saland
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Barbara Weisberger
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Patricia Wilde
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Helgi Tomasson
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Catherine Morris
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Victoria Simon
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Yvonne Patterson
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Victoria Bromberg
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John Clifford
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Karin von Aroldingen
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Daniel Duell
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Elise Ingalls
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Maria Calegari
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Virginia Rich
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Robert Barnett
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Joysanne Sidimus
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John Prinz
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Sandra Jennings
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Marjorie Bresler Thompson
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Giselle Roberge
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Colleen Neary
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Janice Cohen Adelson
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Judith Friedman Kupersmith
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Irene Larsson
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Lorna London
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Delia Peters
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Adam Luders
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Helene Alexopoulos
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Garielle Whittle
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Stacy Caddell
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Robert Maiorano
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Lynne Stetson
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Steven Caras
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Susan Gluck
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Shawn Stevens
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Darla Hoover
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Christopher Fleming
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Diana White
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Afshin Mofid
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Vida Brown
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Helen Kramer
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Conrad Ludlow
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Yvonne Mounsey
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Shaun O’Brien
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Lisa de Ribere
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Frank Ohman
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Bettijane Sills
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Toni Bentley
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Peter Naumann
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Nancy Reynolds
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Carole Divet
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Deborah Wingert
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Christopher d’Amboise
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Elizabeth Geyer
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Nanette Glushak
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Gloria Contreras
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Joy Williams Brown
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Pauline Goddard
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Anne Crowell
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Arlouine Case
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Edwina Fontaine
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Barbara Milberg Fisher
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Edith Brozak
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Jennifer Nairn Smith
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Andrei Kramarevsky
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Dianne Chilgren
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Nancy Lassalle
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Perry Silvey
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Marcia Dale Weary
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Sheila Rozann
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Barbara Sandonato
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Hilda Morales
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David Hays

IBC Digital Archive

a work-in-progress

50 Interviews
with generations of dancers and others who worked with him
50 Hours
of exclusive studio footage
The In Balanchine's Classroom Digital Archive is an essential resource for anyone interested in the life and work of George Balanchine. Dance is an art memory, and In Balanchine's Classroom captures the memories of so many of the dancers who worked directly with Balanchine. We should be grateful to Connie Hochman for undertaking this vital oral history.
— JENNIFER HOMANS
Historian and Dance Critic
Author of Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet
Founder and Director, NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts
The IBC Digital Archive is a precious and historical resource that reveals in the dancers’ individual voices what it was like to dance and work for George Balanchine. While there are common denominators in their experience, each viewpoint offers distinct memories and interpretations. This unfathomable treasure trove of 100 interviews, with its range of perspectives, gives a richer and more complete insight into Balanchine’s teaching, his impact on his dancers as artists and people, and the golden age of American ballet.
— MERRILL ASHLEY
Balanchine Ballerina and Repetiteur for The George Balanchine Trust
In Balanchine’s Classroom is a revelation. The vivid stories and memories of how George Balanchine taught and created as recounted by his dancers are priceless parables to be savored and learned from by generations to come.
— DAMIAN WOETZEL
Former Principal Dancer of New York City Ballet
Artistic Director of Vail Dance Festival
President of The Juilliard School
George Balanchine's contribution as a teacher, choreographer, and director is one of the great achievements in the history of art. His legacy is precious to me. From my boyhood training with Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, to my time as a dancer with New York City Ballet, my life has been enriched by Mr. Balanchine's dynamic and expansive vision of ballet. The In Balanchine's Classroom Digital Archive is where so much of that vision is recorded. I trust it will educate and inspire for generations to come.
— SILAS FARLEY
Choreographer, Educator, and Former New York City Ballet Dancer
Dean of Dance at The Colburn School
It is an impossible dream of mine to be able to work with Mr. Balanchine. The In Balanchine’s Classroom project will give me a chance to know what it was like to be the experiment that his genius explored. Hearing from his dancers makes this work not only a great teaching tool but a way for Mr. B’s legacy to live on forever.
— SARA MEARNS
Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet
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Balanchine’s own dancers teaching class & staging his ballets across the United States and parts of Europe

Please help make the IBC Digital Archive work-in-progress a reality
meet the director

Connie Hochman

Connie Hochman was a professional ballet dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet where she performed many of George Balanchine’s masterworks. As a child in the 1960s, Connie trained at the School of American Ballet and danced alongside the New York City Ballet, with Balanchine at the helm. During these years, she witnessed a profound bond between the master and his dancer-disciples, which continued to inspire and fascinate her. Decades later, a desire to understand more led Connie on a mission to solve a mystery: what exactly happened in Balanchine’s classroom, where he developed the dancers and the dancing to serve his choreographic vision? In 2007, Connie began interviewing former Balanchine dancers to explore the phenomenon of his classroom. Their remembrances form the basis of IN BALANCHINE’S CLASSROOM.

(c) Donna Mueller Photography

Have Questions About The IBC Digital Archive?

Please fill out the form below. Our team will respond as soon as we can.